Wonder
by Time Force Pink Ranger
Summary: The journal of Wesley Collins as he wonders about what will happen after the others have left. A renew friendship a new job. Many possibilities. R


I might do a rewrite later, as I am writing this while I'm working on a different story. This is just going to be short since I'm not a Jen/Wes fan. Also, sorry if I use some words like they're used in the King James Bible, but I'm just used to seeing it, so, I might think nothing of it. It won't be like thee/thou/thy (singular) or ye/you (plural), but words like "wax" might be used to mean "grow" or "become." I'll try not to use them for your convenience.

Disclaimer: I never have and never will own Power Rangers or any of it's characters.

****

July 4, 2001

They returned home today. Jen told me she loves me! She was crying _because_ of me. As I held her longingly in my arms, I nearly choked myself, holding back tears. Now, I'm celebrating Independence Day and mourning inwardly. I still can't get over it – the most beautiful woman in the world loves me!

Does she really love me, though, I wonder. She still loved Alex when he came back; I could see how much it hurt her to restrain from kissing, hugging, or touching him. That man was so cold toward her. I don't see how she loved him, but maybe he isn't like that when they're not on duty. Perhaps she only thinks she loves me because I am his doppelganger. I can't think like that. Of course, she loves me. She said it to _me_, not _him_.

What will happen to her when she gets back? She'll probably get her memory erased or something – Alex will see to that.

What was Jen to me? A brave leader. A courageous, tough woman. A beautiful lady. The woman I love, yet can never have. I feel foolish to have fallen in love with her, a woman of the future. Now, I have to suffer the consequences – a broken heart.

My father is calling. Says some bank hold-up's going on. Got to jet!

Wesley A. Collins

****

~*~

Wes put his journal into his desk drawer, exchanging its place in his hand for his gun and morpher. He quickly put a bulletproof vest and a gun holster underneath his shirt and put a jacket on. He snapped on his morpher, snatched up his two-way, and ran to his motorcycle, rushing to the scene of the crime. Adrenaline flowed throughout his body, giving him the energy boost he needed after Jen and the others had left earlier.

Eric's voice roared through the radio, demanding attention, "Where are you, Collins?! Get down here immediately!"

Wes gritted his teeth. Even after his father had made him captain, and he had chosen Eric as his second-in-command, Eric still tried to make himself higher than him. What had he ever done to make Eric hate him? All he had done was try to be his friend. Perhaps they could talk about it later. Wes snatched up the radio as soon as he pulled over, "I'm on the freeway! It's not easy snaking through all these vehicles on this bike! Traffics terrible. Hold your horses!" Wes sighed with relief and started up his bike again, since Eric was silent. The engine revved, and he sped between the car, receiving many scowls.

Finally, Wes arrived at the bank. Several Silver Guardians were gathered around the small bank, covering every exit. Wes parked his bike. Soon, he spotted Eric and rushed over to him. "Myers, I'm here. What's the current status of the hold-up?"

Eric looked at him, wearing his trademark scowl. "About time, Collins. There are five civilians inside the building, not including the workers. Two women and children, and one man. There are about seven workers who clocked in right before those two criminals walked in."

"Anyone hurt?" Wes asked with concern.

"Not yet. He's threatened to if we get inside. This had to happen on the Fourth of July! Several of these people were probably on their way to a family barbecue! I know I was."

"Man, we've got to find some way inside without those two noticing." Wes said, thinking aloud.

"There's no way. Not with the security cameras being on. We don't exactly know how many criminals are in there. They could be watching the screens. We've only heard from two."

"Maybe if we shut down the power to the security devices, we could –"

"We already are on it, Collins!" Eric exclaimed meanly.

"Then, I guess you don't need me – your captain." Wes replied, reminding Eric of his place. Wes watched, strangely satisfied as Eric cringed. "We got to hurry it up. The sooner we can get them, the sooner we can all return to family barbecues and whatnot."

"Yes, sir." Eric said defiantly. He barked some orders into his headset, and a few moments later a recruit around their age appeared before them.

"Security's been disabled, sir." she told Wes.

"You're welcome,…?"

"Jemina." she replied, shaking his hand.

"Thank you, Jemina." Wes said, releasing his grip on her hand. He rushed to the back entrance of the bank. He took out gun, ready to fire if necessary. He slowly made his way and attempted to open the door by the handle. It did not budge. _Great._ he thought. _So much for making no noise._ He backed up and kicked down the door, falling backward, screaming out in pain.

Eric rushed to his side and helped him up. "You alright?" he asked, looking at the kicked in door and scratching his chin.

Wes rubbed his backside. "Yes. Probably just a lit –" Wes stopped in mid-sentence. Eric was already inside. Wes crept up beside him. "You take that way; I'll take this way." he whispered to Eric. Eric nodded, and the two parted ways, creeping along the walls. Wes poked his head inside an open room. Two, four – six robbers. He shook his head as he backed out noiselessly. He set his gun to a low power and shot at each one's knees before they knew what was happening. He radioed for back up to come and arrest them. As soon as they arrived, Wes left and continued further inside the bank.

"You! Don't move. I'll shoot!" someone yelled authoritatively.

Wes rounded the corner behind him, holding his gun to the masked man's head. "You, don't move, or I'll shoot!" he declared. The people laughed nervously, releasing tension. A woman in the corner clutched her crying children in her arms. A man held his shaking wife tightly to his side near the doorway.

Another masked figure stood threateningly a few feet from Wes. "You'd better let him go. I've got other men inside this building. Surprised you got past them. They'll shoot you without a second thought." Wes stood holding the other without flinching. "Osbourne!"

"Afraid Osbourne and his pals aren't back there anymore!"

"Oh yeah? Osbourne!" the masked man yelled.

"How else do you think I got past him?" Wes asked demandingly, pressing the gun reluctantly harder against the man's head as the other attempted to down him. "Don't you try something like that again or else your buddy here will be in pain! I'll shoot!" he threatened half-heartedly.

The man in Wes' arms was trembling greatly. "Don't do it, Jenkins! He-he means it!"

Jenkins sneered. "Sure, he means it, Blythe! Look at his face! I'm so scared." He mocked being scared. Then, he walked over to the man and his wife and grabbed her from his strong grip. "Now, you'll give me what I want, or – whoa!"

"Drop your gun." Eric growled. "Let her go."

Jenkins yelled fearfully, "Osbourne!"

"I'm afraid your friend's otherwise preoccupied." Eric said menacingly.

Jenkins nodded his head, an evil smirk on his face, causing Wes to wax nervous. In an instant, a gun went off, water began to form a thick mist from the ceiling to the floor. Wes held his gun out, pointing at something unseen. He heard whimpering and crying, and the mist cleared.

Jenkins and Blythe stood, ready to fight if necessary. Wes and Eric moved closer, and the two criminals attacked. The hostages watched in horror, cheering on their heroes nervously.

Wes fell; Eric rushed over. "Need a hand, Collins?"

"Yeah. Thanks, man." Wes replied.

The two stood back to back, guns drawn. Looking over his shoulder, Eric said, "What do you say we get these bad guys?"

"Sounds like a plan." Wes replied, smiling.

Within minutes, the two emerged, each holding a criminal, and bearing a few minor injuries. Hostages emerged behind them, and the medical crew immediately checked them for any injuries. The Silver Guardians cheered, and the man, women, and children thanked the two as they passed by.

****

~*~

****

July 8, 2001

And I thought being a ranger was busy! Too many robberies now with the Silver Guardians. It's nice to actually be working with Eric Myers, though.

Wonder what is going on in 3000. What's everyone doing? Do they remember me? Any of the time as rangers? Does she still care? Will I even see Jen, Katie, Lucas, or Trip again? I wish I could live another thousand years to lay eyes on Jen again. I wish I could find an abandoned screen so I could contact her. I'm going to go to the ruins of the clock tower tomorrow.

Wesley A Collins

****

~*~

The next morning, Wes rode up to Eric's door and got off. He knocked on the door, and a sleepy Eric opened the door, greeting tiredly, "Hello?" He looked in front of him, and realizing who it was, stood straight, and put a tough look on his face. "Hi, Wes. Won't you come in?" he asked, just barely sounding polite.

"Hi, Eric." Wes greeted, entering through the doorway.

"Have a seat. Want anything to drink?" Eric offered, not liking the prospect of having to be nice to the man he had disliked as far as he could remember.

"No, thank you. I'm all set." Wes took a seat.

Eric sat across from him. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to talk with you."

"Oh." Eric paused. "So, talk then."

"It's just, I don't understand why we've been practically rivals since we first met. I always tried to be your friend and everything, but you shunned me off after we had been friends for a week."

"You _tried _to be my friend?" Eric chuckled. "Yeah, right. This is rich." Eric stood, and walked toward the kitchen. Shuffling through the refrigerator, he continued, "You were always rubbing the fact that you were rich in my face! 'Eric, want to come over and play with the latest toy?' 'Eric, you want one of these?' Sure, Wes, you tried to be my friend! Whatever!"

"I don't get you. You don't see that as trying to be your friend? I was just inviting you over to play because I figured you'd like to play with some new toy. I was trying to be nice, and share, you know?"

Eric returned from the kitchen, holding two cokes. "Want one?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Share, you say? It sounded an awful lot like rubbing the fact that you're rich in my face. The latest toy…most expensive at that. Maybe it would have been different if you had asked about wanting to play with a cheaper toy. Maybe then I'd have come to your mansion and saw the bigger toy and wanted to play with it too."

"Or maybe you would have seen it the same way. That I just wanted you to come over so I could show off." Wes said, driving home a point to Eric, and standing up. "Listen, I'm not the 'rich boy' anymore. I'm moving out from my dad's house, starting out on my own. I have a job that pays well, as do you. We're on the same level – not that we haven't always been. Can't we give up this charade and just be friends?"

"No."

"No? You're more stubborn than a mule, Eric."

"Exactly how to get a friend – offend them. Nice going, Collins."

"Myers, I'm just making a statement." Eric stared him down, his face looking like he was about to take a mug shot. "OK! You know what man?! I give up on trying to make peace with you! If you want to give it a shot, call my cell!" Wes stood and tossed a small piece of paper onto Eric's coffee table. "I'll see myself out." he said with a deep voice to cover his confusion.

"No, you won't, Wes." Eric laughed. "Come on, sit down. I was just giving you a hard time." Wes hesitated. "Go on, sit down." Wes sat, still hesitant.

"Really?" he asked coolly.

"Yes, really." Eric bent over, sitting down next to Wes. "I'm sorry man. I just was seeing how you'd react if I pushed you." Eric began to chuckle. "It was pretty funny how upset you were."

"Funny? I don't see how it was." Wes socked Eric in the arm playfully.

"Oh, it was, it was. You should have seen your face! In fact you can, I set my digital camera on timer to take a picture when you stood."

"You did?" It was Wes' turn to laugh. "You're pathetic." he declared, standing.

"No, my friend, you are." Eric slapped him on the back and proceeded to his computer.

"Ow!" Wes yelled, teasing Eric.

"See, Collins, you're pathetic!" Eric sat on his desk chair, and retrieved the photo from his camera. Wes doubled over, laughing. He did look pretty funny when he was angry as he was not used to seeing himself that way, but he was unwilling to admit it to Eric.

"Interesting picture. Now what do you say we go down to the clocktower ruins and see if the others left anything?"

"Sure. What were they like anyway? I was too busy trying to make myself look good to care."

"Why the change of heart?" Wes asked as they walked out the door and hopped into Eric's SUV.

"Oh, nothing. Just now I don't have to act tough in front of you unless I want to." They drove the rest of the way with nothing but the music making noise. Eric pulled swiftly up to the ruins of the clocktower.

Wes jumped out and began to doggedly dig through the ruins. He was discouraged at first, but suddenly, Eric stood and asked, "What's this?"

Wes rushed over. "It's part of what we used to communicate with the future. I hope we can find the other so I could possibly talk with Jen."

"You liked her, didn't you?"

"Could it be any more obvious? I mean we hugged when she left longer than anyone else I hugged."

"Guess not." The two threw back a few more rocks. A distorted tin can. Wes pried it open with some difficulty. The pictures they had taken. Those were the good times. He stopped and smiled as he found the picture of Jen leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. "What you got there, Wes? Oh…" Eric let out a long whistle.

Wes put away the pictures, put the tin can and the post into Eric's car, and resumed digging. An hour later, Wes pulled out the other post triumphantly. "I found it, Eric! Now, I hope I can figure out how to work it."

"You will, man. If you really want to talk to her again, you will." Eric helped Wes up. "Ready to go?"

"Yes. I've got to go and finish packing my things so I can move out." The two got into Eric's SUV and rode off.

****

~*~

****

July 14, 2004

Success! I have found a working frame of it, but cannot figure out how to contact the future. Maybe if I – there! I can see what she's doing. I'm going to try and speak to her and write what she says – _if_ it works.

Me: Jen?

Jen: (looks up) W-wes? (looks at screen happily) How did – how?

Me: Found it at the clock tower.

Jen: I thought we packed everything.

Me: Guess not.

Jen: Good. It's good to hear your voice! (tears in her eyes)

Me: No memory adaptation?

Jen: Nope. Alex managed to get us out of it. I love you.

Me: And I you.

Jen: I don't know how I'll live if Logan finds out about this and gets your thing back.

Me: Me either. You're the only woman I ever have or will truly love.

Jen: Don't say that. There'll have to be someone else for both of us in our times, but thanks!

You made me feel special. (looks at door) Logan's coming. Love ya! Bye!

She closed the link. I'll talk to her soon again, hopefully. Now I know she'll always remember me and love me and I her. I don't have to wonder anymore.

Wesley Alan Collins


End file.
